EDITORIAL: Measure churches this fall_10603

Posted: 10/3/03

EDITORIAL:
Measure churches this fall

Most Baptists are obsessive measurers. Almost every family with children has a place–maybe the pantry wall or the kitchen doorway–where they measure the kiddoes at the same time every year. Others take pictures of the youngers on the first day of school, always by the same chair or standing in the same spot. Just to see how they've grown. Just to mark the progress of time.

We come by this naturally. Southern Baptists started collecting measurements of their churches in 1870, when they asked the original Sunday School Board to prepare an annual report toting up the tallies on Sundays School statistics. Like most families' annual wall markings and photos, those reports charted growth and change. And the reports changed themselves. For decades, the report was called the Uniform Church Letter, and at one time it contained 150 measurements. Not quite 10 years ago, it became the Annual Church Profile, and it has trimmed down to 51 vital statistics.

Unfortunately, Texas Baptists aren't measuring up to our reputation as measurers, reports Clay Price, the Baptist General Convention of Texas' chief researcher and statistician. The number of Texas Baptist churches that have completed the Annual Church Profile has decreased by 15 percentage points in five years, from 82 percent of churches in 1998 to 67 percent last year. “This means one of every three congregations did not report in 2002,” he observes, noting a couple of good reasons for churches to participate in the annual survey:

First, it's biblical. Price points to Acts 1:15, where Luke records that 120 people were present when the apostles selected Matthias to join them, replacing Judas.

“I like to think (Luke) found the original 'church clerk' and got the official count of those present,” he says. “Of course, there are many other examples of numbers in the New Testament, a fact that speaks to God's concern for all humanity.”

Second, “because 'people count,' it is important for churches to count, literally,” he adds. When Southern Baptists collected the Uniform Church Letter, the emphasis focused on communicating with other churches, providing statistics on primary church tasks and developing a historical record of the denomination. With the advent of the Annual Church Profile, the primary purpose switched to helping individual churches evaluate their own ministries.

“God cares about his people, and he cares about his church,” Price insists. “The Annual Church Profile is just one way the church can examine its main tasks and build a record of the growth of God's kingdom. Even in churches where numbers are down, it is possible to see that people are studying the Bible, being baptized and participating in the life of the church”

If you are a church clerk or administrative assistant, look for the 2003 ACP materials from your associational office and complete them. Then encourage your pastor to share the report with the church to celebrate the growth of the God's kingdom this past year. If you are a pastor or church leader, help the clerk get the proper numbers. If you are a church member, look for and ask about the report. The BGCT research information office and most associations can provide a 10-year profile of statistics on individual churches. The Annual Church Profile provides a helpful yardstick. Use it to measure your church.